2022 WM Phoenix Open: PGA Tour Betting Odds
The Phoenix Open is the biggest party scene in golf and annually the highest-attended event on the Tour. There are concerts, etc., and it’s why this tournament is the Greatest Show on Grass. The NFL added a 17th regular-season game for the 2021 campaign and going forward, which meant that every playoff week was pushed back, including the Super Bowl. The Phoenix Open has been played on Super Bowl weekend for about two decades and the tournament followed suit by moving back a week as well.
It will be the 87th Phoenix Open, which like most PGA Tour events has had numerous names over the years. TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course is the host, a par 71 at around 7,250 yards. The par-3 16th hole, one of the shortest on Tour at 163 yards, is the loudest hole on the Tour because that’s where most of the rowdy fans congregate – it just wasn’t the same in 2021 due to the pandemic and only 5,000 fans allowed on the course. The 16th is the first hole on the Tour completely surrounded by grandstands and skyboxes. It’s nicknamed “The Coliseum.”
American Brooks Koepka is the defending champion, finishing at 19-under 265 and a shot ahead of Xander Schauffele and KH Lee. Koepka holed a 32-yard pitch on the par-4 17th on Sunday to take a lead he wouldn’t give up at No. 18. Koepka trailed 54-hole co-leaders Schauffele and Jordan Spieth by five shot entering Sunday but fired a 65. Schauffele shot 71 and Spieth 72 after a third-round 61.
Big comebacks are not that unusual here as Koepka’s win was the third time a player rallied for a victory when trailing by at least five after 54 holes.
WM Phoenix Open Odds
Jon Rahm is the +750 favourite and probably will be favoured in every tournament he enters for a while. He didn’t play in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week. Rahm starred collegiately at nearby Arizona State so he knows this track well. He hasn’t been worse than T16 here but yet to win.
Justin Thomas is +1200 with Viktor Hovland +1400, and Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay all +1600. Thomas’ best finish at this event is third twice. Hovland won in Dubai a couple of weeks ago on the European Tour. He has played this tournament once and missed the cut.
Matsuyama won this event in 2016 & ’17 but hasn’t really contended since. He does have two wins on the PGA Tour already this season. Spieth finished runner-up by two shots to Tom Hoge at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Sunday. Spieth’s T4 last year was his best result at this tournament. Cantlay is playing it for the first time.
Defending champion Brooks Koepka (+2700) is one of 16 multiple winners of this tournament, also prevailing in 2015 at 15-under 269. Four players have won it three times, including Phil Mickelson (not playing this week in a surprise). Off his first career PGA Tour win, Hoge is +5500.
Canada’s George Knudson won this tournament in 1968, the fifth of his eight career PGA Tour wins. Graham DeLaet was runner-up by a shot to Kevin Stadler in 2014. Corey Conners was the top Canadian last year at T17, while Adam Hadwin was T50. Nick Taylor missed the cut. Conners is +5000 this week with Hadwin is +12000, Taylor +15000 and Roger Sloan +32000
WM Phoenix Open Predictions
Take Rahm and Spieth for Top 10s, but the winner is Xander Schauffele (+2000) after his runner-up in 2021. He hasn’t been worse than T17 in four trips to the event and comes off a T18 in Saudi Arabia.